Wednesday, August 10, 2016

>>> I am a great fan of prehistoric art and have been both blessed and cursed to live in a part of the world called Balkan peninsula. For now, I'll leave bad sides and mention only good ones, those that make me happy to live in an area that is so rich with history and archaeological sites like Lepenski Vir, Starcevo, Vinca, Butmir, Vucedol, etc. and that is not far away from other neighboring cultures like Cucuteni-Trypillian and Karanovo-Gumelnitsa, which all together seem to be a part of one huge ( and highly neglected by modern day scholars ) Old European Culture or Old Danube Civilization, which was spread widely in time and space: It lasted from as early as from 27,000 BCE until 3,000 BCE and covered modern day countries like all of ex-YU countries, Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary, Moldova, Albania, North Italy, parts of Greece, Turkey and huge parts, if not all, of Ukraine, Russia, etc.

Today I want to mention two prehistoric artifacts from Ukraine and one from Russia. Justthe bare thought of them induces chills going down my spine. They might be the oldest known artifacts with meandering and zigzag/chevron motifs, ever found. They are 20,000 years old, at least, and are carved in mammoth bone and tusks.

>>> Ukraine is blessed with with an abundance of Paleolithicsites. Although artifacts made primarily from mammoth bones and tusks are known from ancient settlements throughout Eurasia, they are mainly concentrated in the north-western tributaries of the Dnipro River basin and in the Crimea, making Ukraine an ideal area in which to study Paleolithic society. Those settlements have been dated by 14C isotope analysis to between 27,000 and 12,000 BCE.

>>> Before I start going into details, I'd like to mention again Lepenski Vir and Vinca culture, which I am especially fond of, because they are a part of the local history and tradition. I have always wondered about geometric motifs that were carved in stones found in Lepenski Vir and on famous clay Goddess figurines, found in Vinca. They have the same meandering and "V" lines motifs. On Vinca's figurines we can see them mostly as segments of an imaginary overall designs. I always wanted to know the meaning behind those motifs, what do they represent? Do they represent a river flow, a labyrinth, a stork fly, celestial skies, a female principle or something else? Here, in Serbia, we have at least two rivers with a beautifully defined meandering curves, Uvac and Morava. Could it be that Vinca's people simply used it as an art expression of things they have been seeing around?

Above are photos of two carved stones with meandering pattern, from Lepenski Vir, Serbia, a pintadera in the shape of left leg, with zigzag pattern (Starčevo-Criş culture, 6200-5500 BCE) and a female idol clay figurine from Vinca, Serbia, with engraved segments of meandering motif and V lines;

>>> We can see the same patterns also in Cucuteni-Trypillian and Karanovo-Gumelnitsa cultures:

Above are photosoftwo clay idols with meandering patterns, one from Karanovo-Gumelnitsa culture, another from Cucuteni -Trypillian, two clay figurines of men and women showing body tattoo with a zigzag pattern and a pottery vase with a large meandering motifs, both from Cucuteni-Trypillian culture;

>>> Same patterns can be seen on amazingly similar neolithic clay stamps found in Republic of Macedonia, Greece and Turkey (Anatolia). For more interesting information about this, please, visit this link.There are probably many more of them , but I think this is quite enough to illustrate how these patterns were widely spread, all across Euro-Asia, and probably even further, for a long period of time. These patterns are actually still alive today and and are integral parts of, for example, textile designs and embroideries of many modern countries and nations.

>>> But, let's go back to the Mezin bracelet, because, it has the most elaborately performed meandering and zigzag patterns. On the picture below we can see how complex this design is, yet it was done with a simple tools and by man who lived during the last glacial period and in particular Late Upper Paleolithic period, at the beginning of the climatic change that marked the end the last Ice Age.These Paleolithic bracelets are dated from about 20,000 BCE . Meanwhile the bracelets from mammoth tusk were found at the Paleolithic settlements in Russia, France, and Belgium, but Mezin bracelets have no analogues in ornamentation.

We note also that the geometrical ornamentation of these Paleolithic finds, which reaches a maximal complication at the Mezin bracelets, in particular in the wide bracelet, is not casual. These finds are so perfect that they required elaborate inputs, skills, time and mastery in comparison with other finds revealed at these settlements. Without doubt they have concentrated valuable crumbs of ancient knowledge about rhythms of Cosmos. Such ornaments may testify that humans of the upper Paleolithic may had the concept of long-term counting of the lunar phases. If so, a complicated lunar mythology was surely engendered in these Paleolithic times. For more information, please, visit this link.

>>> The pattern on this bracelet was described in detail by Frolov (1977), and he was among the first to propose that it may represent a rare example of an ancientlunar-solar calendar. Upon analyzing the decorative pattern (see the picture below), one finds that two reiterating meander groups are divided twice by zones of zigzags. Each of the zigzags consists of 7 lines. We can clearly identify 5 different patterns: A, C, and E in the centre and at the edges of the meander zone, and B and D zones. (Frolov, 1971).

>>>And here we have more elaborate explanation, proposed by two Ukrainian astronomers, Irina B. Vavilova and Tetyana G. Artemenko - ANCIENT ASTRONOMICAL CULTURE IN UKRAINE.1: FINDS RELATING TO THE PALEOLITHIC ERA: " This ornamentation of parallel strokes separated in the areas of the zigzags, consists in total of 564 lines (20 lunar months). It is interesting that the number of lines in the central area and in the zigzags is equal to 366, which almost corresponds to one solar year (Zosimovich, 1992: 14). Of course, it could be a simple coincidence, but the conclusion also can be drawn that the pattern on this bracelet represents an ancient lunar-solar calendar based exactly on the period of 10 lunar months, or 280 days.

Illustration of both Mezin bracelets with details of their patterns

2. SECOND BRACELET FROM MEZIN, UKRAINE, ENGRAVED OUT OF MAMMOTH IVORY

>>>The second Mezin bracelet, discovered in 1956,
is also a remarkable find. It
is composing of five joined mammoth tusk rings edged with ornamentation.
The external surfaces of the bracelet
are covered with a fretwork geometrical pattern
in which rows of fir trees are directed to opposite
sides and form a clear meander pattern (see
Abramova, 1962; 1995; Shovkoplyas, 1965: 104-
105).

A pattern is formed as a result of the junctions
of the recurring groups of parallel strokes,
which are directed at an angle to the edge of the
bracelet. Frolov (1977) has interpreted this
meander pattern as a primitive calendar (Figure
9) with fertility and crop symbols. His interpretation
is as follows: most groups consist of 14
strokes, although there are groups with 13 and
15 strokes. The directions of the strokes in two
adjacent groups differ by 90 degrees . Each part of the
bracelet with 27-29 strokes can be interpreted
as a calendar of the lunar month. It is possible
that the 90 degree change of direction of the strokes
may reflect a lunar disc that is increasing during
the first part of the month and decreasing in the
second part of the month:
Groups of 14 strokes, which change their
direction periodically exactly after this number,
could correspond to the same visibility occurrence,
in this case with the increasing lunar
disc before Full Moon, and with the decreasing
lunar disc before the New Moon during the 28-
29 days of the lunar month.

>>>Obeying this rhythm, two lunar months are written at the edges of plates. As a result all of the days in 10 lunar months could be written on all 5 plates of the bracelet. (Frolov, 1974: 63-64;). It is important to emphasize that the base of these possible paleo-astronomical calendars (10 lunar months, or 280 days) coincides with the mean period of pregnancy for women. Many scientists consider that such a period relating to the Moon could have been chosen by prehistoric people as the obvious time-measurement unit for long-term observational events. Incidentally, upon studying in detail the ornamentation on both Mezin bracelets, Shovkoplyas (1965) noted that they had specific female attributes. (Source: Irina B. Vavilova and Tetyana G. Artemenko - ANCIENT ASTRONOMICAL CULTURE IN UKRAINE.1: FINDS RELATING TO THE PALEOLITHIC ERA)

>>>Kostenki is a very important Paleolithic site on the Don River in the Russia. It was a settlement which contained venus figures, dwellings made of mammoth bones, and many flint tools and bone implements. Kostenki/Kostienki is not actually a single site but really an area on the right bank of the Don River in the regions of the villages of Kostenki and Borshevo, consisting of more than twenty site locations, all dating to the Paleolithic. Archaeological and the earliest occupation stages in these localities have been dated to between 39 000 and 34 000 years ago.

>>>The Paleolithic site of Avdeevo, on the left bank of the Rogozna River (23-22K BP) is worthy of special attention because of its links between the Paleolithic sites of Eastern and Central Europe. Research at the site was conducted from 1946-1949 and from 1972 on. Two oval living areas have been identified at Avdeevo. Both were occupied between 23 000 and 22 000 BP. The tool inventory consists of Kostenki knives, shouldered points, and leaf points on blades. There is a well preserved series of worked bone objects which differ in details from those found at Central European sites assigned to the Kostenki-Willendorf cultural unity. They include numerous bone awls and points of various types, burnishers and shovels, diadems and bracelets, as well as beads and decorated points. Non-repetitive or unique objects are relatively rare. (Source: www.donmaps.com)

Bellow is the picture of diadem carved out from mammoth tusk. The surface is divided in two halves with zigzag lines/chevron pattern in a mirror like position. The dividing line consists of round-like cuts, distributed in equal distance one from the other. Scientific interpretation of possible mystical or cosmogonic nature of zigzag geomatric pattern, in this case, has not yet been offered, at least, I was not able to find it. So we may only guess or be inspired to conduct our own research.

>>> Above is the picture of a fragment of the diadem from Kostenki , that shows that it is slightly curved. And bellow is a drawing that shows details of the diadem and other artifacts in a more clear way.

There are probably more examples with same patterns in other parts of the world, but I was not able to find the source that represents them systematically like those I listed in this posts. Even if they exists, they might be some isolated cases, however, if you know about them, please, do let me know. My personal opinion is that things like this belong to world heritage and that one should be above the local and national prides and prejudices, because it is close to nothing that we truly know about ancient people's ability to move , migrate and mix around with other people or stay aboriginal. Therefore, we should be all proud of what our ancestors from all around the world have left behind them for us. So, let's just admire and enjoy :).

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